Global survey of CIOs reveals top 2012 business, tech priorities

A new survey of 2,335 chief information officers from companies worldwide conducted by market research firm Gartner revealed that a majority believe continued growth is their top business priority in 2012.

Of those polled, the top technology priority for the year is analytics and business intelligence, followed by mobile and cloud computing technology. Despite global economic concerns, organizations may feel pressure to reduce their IT spending, but this may not be the proper move, according to a Gartner official.

"Present economic conditions may tempt CIOs to force IT back into cost-cutting mode, but senior executives expect technology - and this includes IT - to address the tough challenges by amplifying enterprise strategies and operations," said Gartner group vice president Mark McDonald.

One way the enterprise can address rapid growth and utilize one of its top technology priorities is through the use of cloud-based email archiving solutions. With the proliferation of electronic data such as email, instant messages, attachments and other files, managing this information can place an increased strain on the IT infrastructure. Email archiving offers unlimited storage capacity and real-time search capabilities so this data is easily handled.